Case 01

Progress Profiles

Generate goals

Attention

Responds to tactile input from familiar partner

Stills, orients, or shows awareness when a familiar person initiates tactile contact in a meaningful context.

Also in Sensory profile

Sustains attention in shared tactile activity (2+ min)

Remains engaged in a reciprocal tactile activity or routine with a communication partner for at least 2 minutes without losing the joint focus.

Shows triadic attention using tactile channel

Alternates tactile contact between an object of interest and a communication partner — a proto-declarative act in the tactile modality.

Understanding of world / language

Anticipates next step in familiar routine from tactile cue

Shows consistent behavioural anticipation — reaching, vocalising, calming — across at least 3 familiar routines when a specific tactile cue precedes them.

Responds differentially to 2+ familiar touch cues

Shows distinct, consistent, different responses to at least 2 different touch cues used by the same partner across multiple sessions.

Social reciprocity / exchanges

Initiates tactile contact with preferred partner unprompted

Reaches toward, leans into, or otherwise seeks physical contact with a preferred communication partner without any preceding prompt or cue.

Participates in turn-taking within tactile exchange (3+ turns)

Demonstrates clear alternation of roles — act, wait, respond — within a tactile dialogue, sustained for at least 3 full turns.

Tactile hygiene

Accepts tactile contact from familiar partner across contexts

Tolerates tactile contact from at least one familiar partner in at least 3 different physical or social contexts without distress.

Shows legible signals to end or pause tactile contact

Uses a consistent, recognisable signal — push away, turn away, vocalisation — that partners can reliably interpret as a 'stop' or 'pause' request.